Just put the shovel in my hands

The US Supreme Court is hearing the case of the right for Doctors to prescribe a lethal overdose for a dying patient. Advocates for this call it physician assisted dying. Opponents call it suicide or murder.
Americans are divided on when life begins or ends. Too many people continue treating death as if it is an option instead of a reality. It is ok if the government hides the coffins of dead soldiers returning from Iraq and tries to censor pictures of floating corpses in New Orleans. These actions are done out of respect for the dead and their families. Perhaps! But it only perpetuates the fantasy of deathless death which is a hallmark of a blind reality where too many spend their time.
Everybody wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die, but die we do. We all want to die with dignity without pain and surrounded by loved ones. I surely don't want to burden my family with expensive yet useless medical treatments nor do I want them to be ridden with guilt or shame from wondering whether they did enough or pulled the plug too soon. This will be impossible for them with out the acceptance of deaths inevitability and the reality that even if we take care of ourselves we can't live forever.
For almost all of history death has always appeared clean and certain. A person's heart, lungs, and brain all had to quit at the same time. But in the last half century death has been transformed. Ventilations, dialysis, organ transplants, and intensive care have made it possible for people to no longer move from living to dead.
A simple criteria for death comes from one of my favorite movies, The Wizard Of OZ. When the house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, the Munchkin Mayor doesn't want to make the decision if the witch is really dead. He thinks she might not be really dead and could spring back to life. The Mayor calls in the Coroner to verify that the Wicked Witch of the East is Morally, Ethically, Espiritually, Physcially, Absolutely, Positively, Undeniably, and Reliably dead. The Coroner proclaims " She not only merely dead she is really most sincerely dead ". Notice it still takes both really and sincerely to finish the job. If I had been writing that script my next line for the coroner would have been " Boys get your shovels "
I want the shovel in my hands not someone else's hands. I don't want a debate going on about should we go get the shovels, should we start digging or should we stand the shovels up in the corner and maybe we want need them after all. I hope when death comes for me my family will deal with the reality of it and get on with living.